Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

THE SPOTLIGHT (Continued from preceding page) trict manager, was in town. . . . Melina DaGosta, Paramount contract clerk, will marry Tony Culotta June 30. . . . Robert Hoff, of the Ballantyne Company, is off for a month's trip to a dozen eastern cities. Mrs. Hoff will accompany him. PHILADELPHIA Bill Brooker, Paramount exploiter, is working upstate for a while on some of the company's newer releases. . . . Harry Brillman, office manager of Film Classics,^ announced that the name will be Screen Guild within the next few months. . . . William G. Mansell and Robert Smeltzer, Warner's branch and district managers, respectively, visited in Scranton. . . . Fred Sandy, new branch manager for PRC, is in the middle of a sales drive. . . . Sandy is getting ready for the marriage of his daughter, Ferle, to Herbert Cantor. Eddie O'Donnell, Warner booker, has a new son. . . . The new William Goldman center-city house is expected to open some next month. . . . Mort Blumenstock, Warner vice-president in charge of advertising and publicity, was a visitor at local sales department offices to set arrangements for Warners' 20th anniversary celebration of talking pictures, to be held at the convention in Atlantic City. . . . Leon Brandt, United Artists special representative, is in town in behalf of "Breakfast in Hollywood." MGM local exchange offices are being extensively renovated. . . . Current talk is that the Earle theatre will be moved to a new site, which at present includes the Family theatre. . . . The Wayne theatre, owned by the Felt interests, has' just been sold to Art Silbert. . . . Mort Magill, director of the recent cancer drive in this territory, reported that over $125,000 had been collected by participating theatres. PORTLAND Another stellar holdover week for the first runs, "Kitty" Playhouse, sixth week; "Do You Love Me," Paramount, second week; "Two Sisters from Boston," third week. A heavy opening was recorded for "The Virginian" at the Orpheum-Oriental. . . . Walter Wanger and Governor Earl Snell of Oregon are working out plans for the premier of "Canyon Passage" July 10 at the Broadway .... Albert Fink, Oregon general manager of the Hamrick-Evergreen theatres, is seriously ill in a Seattle hospital. . . . Harold Hunt, drama editor of the Oregon Journal, entertained Bill Demarest and his wife en route to Ketchikan, Alaska. . . . Capacity crowds opened two new drive ins, the "Motor-In" and "Auto Vue Thatre," at Spokane. . . . Mrs. Sue Bates, head inspectress in Seattle, was initiated into the 25Year-Club of Paramount. ST. LOUIS A three-game night series between the Cardinals and Dodgers, and the first week of the outdoor Municipal Opera in St. Louis cut into box office receipts at first runs. The Card-Dodger series attracted 90,000 persons in three nights, while the opera had capacity crowds of 10,000 each night. . . . Promoters of a seven-week walkaton in nearby Collinsville are reported to have netted $40,000. . . . A. D. Magarian, owner of the Deluxe and Gaty heatres in East St. Louis, is back home after a siege of illness that hospitalized him. . . . Mrs. Bess Schulter, owner of the Columbia Roxy theatres in the South side, is a patient in Deaconess Hospital. Otto Faulbaum, formerly manager of the Plaza at Mt. Vernon, 111., has been named manager of the Capitol in the same town. . . . Leo F. Keiler, owner of the Columbia Amusement Company at Paducah, Ky., is enjoying a California vacation. . . . The Missouri Chamber of Commerce published a list of 1,725 business openings in 178' rural communities and cited motion picture theatres as among the community needs. . . . The Orpheum, a unit of Fox Midwest Circuit at Marion, 111., is being remodeled. . . . The International Association of. Showmen has purchased a downtown building for $27,500. Friedl Initiates Welfare Plans John J. Friedl, president of the Minnesota Amusement Company, Minneapolis, last Thursday announced the company would inaugurate a welfare plan for all its employees and their families. The announcement was made following a convention of more than 100 managers and home office employees. The plan will provide financial assistance in time of need, such as sickness, death, home buying and other emergencies. Mr. Friedl also announced that all employees, henceforth, would receive a quarterly bonus of 15 per cent of their salaries. The company operates 82 theatres in Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin. Plans for expansion of Paramount Pictures, of which Minnesota Amusement is an affiliate, into foreign territory were described at the meeting by Leonard Goldenson, president of Paramount Service Corp., and vice-president of Paramount Pictures. He also disclosed that theatre managers would be eligible for foreign service upon application. Among guests at the convention were company partners, including Harvey Buchanan, Frank Buckley and Larry Dauplaise of Superior, Wis. ; Joseph Ryan, Madison, S.D. ; L. J. Ludwig, Jamestown, N.D., and Mrs. Percil Stevenson, Fairmont, Minn. Joseph Justman Acquires Schaefer Studio Stock George J. Schaefer's stock interest in the new studio under construction on Cahuenga Boulevard, Hollywood, which he held in partnership with Jack Schwartz, has been acquired by Joseph Justman, industrialist, it was announced Monday. Mr. Justman will become president of the company, to be known as Producing Artists Studio, Inc., with Mr. Schwartz vice-president and treasurer. France to Make Basic Industry Of the Screen by MAURICE BESSY III Paris A decree is expected to be issued here shortly making the cinema a "basic industry," on the same level as steel, coal and agriculture. This Government decision is very important because henceforth the cinema will be included in the official plans for the reconstruction of France. V The Nazi occupation of France resulted in the loss of 2,500,000,000 francs to the French cinema, according to industry observers. Prior to the war, France ranked third in world film production, but in 1945 only 70 pictures could be made, under very difficult circumstances. During the occupation, "authorizations" were required for every producing company and for each film. Due to lack of supplies and power, film production slumped from 94 in 1941-42 to 40 in 1943-44. All short films were used by the Germans for propaganda purposes. Altogether, the four major studios suffered a loss of 500,000,000 francs. Under the German order of May 21, 1941, 90 per cent of the films in France were turned over to the Germans and a large number of theatres were requisitioned. The destruction of theatres during the war represented a loss of 600,000,000 francs. Furthermore, during each year of the war, France lost a potential earning from film exports of about 100,000,000 francs. All manufacturing of technical equipment, including the manufacture of photographic material, was controlled by the Germans. V An International Film Festival will be held in Cannes in September under the auspices of the Association Francaise d' Action Artistique and the sponsorship of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Education and Information. As a result of the recent French-American agreement, American companies are expected to participate. V "Pinocchio," admirably dubbed in French, has been shown in Paris and accorded a great reception. V M. Fourre-Cormeray, director general of the Cinemato^raphie Francaise, has been named Knight of the Legion of Honor and has received the Medal of the French Resistance. Alexander with Vanguard Sid Alexander, formerly with Columbia Pictures, Monday assumed his new duties as eastern advertising and publicity director for Vanguard Films, Inc., and Selznick Enterprises under the direction of Paul McNamara, managing director of advertising, • publicity and exploitation. 38 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JUNE 22, 1946